Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel remains behind bars. A judge in Rockville Superior Court today heard arguments on Skakel’s request for freedom while he awaits a new trial on charges in the death of his Greenwich neighbor Martha Moxley in 1975, when both were teenagers.

A Superior Court A Connecticut judge has scheduled a hearing for arguments on whether he has the authority to release Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel from prison while he awaits a new trial in the 1975 slaying of neighbor Martha Moxley.

Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel launched a barrage of criticism Thursday against the attorney who represented him at his murder trial, saying he failed to track down key witnesses while having fun and basking in the limelight.

An attorney for Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel says he plans to call him to testify as he challenges his 2002 Connecticut murder conviction on the grounds his trial attorney failed to competently defend him.

An expert on coerced confessions is casting doubt on testimony that Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel confessed to a 1975 murder, saying the statements were made at a reform school where he was subject to beatings and humiliation.

A murder victim’s friend says she told Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel’s attorney before his trial that she had heard two other men were responsible for the killing, but he told her that account didn’t appear credible.

Prosecutors urged a judge Thursday to dismiss Michael Skakel’s latest challenge of his 2002 murder conviction, saying the Kennedy cousin’s claim that his trial attorney did a poor job should have been raised in an earlier appeal and that many of the issues he cites were previously rejected.